The 1000 Faces of Yumi Fukuzawa
by Webdog177
Summary: Can you really see 1000 different expressions on Yumi Fukuzawa's face? The Yamayurikai decide to find out by documenting every single one of her expressions on camera... without her knowing about it.


Disclaimer: I do not own Maria-sama Ga Miteru. I just like to fool around with the story and characters. For fun. Not for profit.

A/N: Hey guys and gals! How are you doin' today?

This is a pilot (testing) episode of an idea I had, and I wanted to get the readers opinion on it before I thought too much more about it. Sei always said that one could see 1000 (or so) different expressions upon Yumi's face, so I thought it would be cool to test that theory. So, this story will essentially be about the Yamayurikai capturing Yumi's different expressions (Happiness, sadness, etc). Every episode will be a new expression, and the Yamayurikai will do _something _to capture Yumi's expression on camera. :-) So much fun!

If people like the concept, then I'll continue the story and (maybe) someday get to one thousand expressions! It'll be a fun study on Yumi's character!

On with the show!

**The One Thousand Faces of Yumi Fukuzawa**

**Pilot Episode**

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em·bar·rass·ment

/emˈbarəsmənt/

Noun

A feeling of self-consciousness, shame, or awkwardness

A person or thing causing such feelings

Synonyms

perplexity – confusion – puzzlement – bewilderment

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Sachiko Ogasawara looked up from the definition of 'embarrassment' written on a torn slip of paper to see the group of people surrounding her, all wearing the same look of expectation and excitement on their faces. She was sitting in the second floor of the Rose Mansion, as her usual seat at the large wooden table, her tea long forgotten and cold. She took a long, steady breath, and locked eyes with fellow third year, Rei Hasekawa.

"Embarrassment? Really?" She asked incredulously. Rei returned the question with a shrug.

"It was Yoshino's idea, actually. She suddenly came to find me during lunch and thrust that definition in my face, saying 'Oh! Oh! We gotta do this!' …" She brushed her bangs to the side and pursed her lips. "And, if I may say so, I think 'embarrassment' will be all too easy. If you help with that one, that is."

"I know, right?!" Yoshino sprang to her feet beside Rei, her dark brown eyes alight with excitement. "I swear, Yumi-san must get embarrassed at _least_ a hundred and thirty-two times a day! It'll be a walk in the park!"

Sachiko scanned her eyes around the other people in the room. Shimako Toudou sat with her petite soeur Noriko Nijou; both silently smiling. They were in agreement, it seemed. Further down the table was Touko Matsudaira. While not a direct member of the Yamayurikai, Touko was still more than welcome to visit the Rose Mansion whenever she wanted. Not only was she helpful and polite (most times), she was well-liked by the full time members of the student council. On the other side of the table, past the Rosa Foetida sisters of Rei and Yoshino, was Tsutako Takeshima.

Tsutako didn't often come to the Rose Mansion, simply due to the fact that the young bespectacled woman had her own hobbies and clubs to attend to. However, ever since the fateful day when the Yamayurikai decided, as Yoshino's behest, to test the theory that Yumi Fukuzawa indeed had _one thousand facial expressions_, and catalogue them with photographs, Tsutako was more than willing to budget some time to donate her camera for a worthy cause.

Sachiko still wasn't too happy that Tsutako would have copies of Yumi's face to look at whenever she wanted… but as long as she got copies for herself, she could ignore that fact.

After completing her visual tour around the room, Sachiko returned her gaze to the small definition in her hand.

"Embarrassment…" She said quietly, as if testing the sound of the word.

"Yea. I must admit, I wouldn't mind having a nice, glossy picture of embarrassed Yumi-san." Tsutako said from a few seats away from Sachiko. Sachiko shot eyes dark blue eyes towards the second year, her eyebrows twitching. "Mmm… all blushing and red… it'll be the cutest one yet! Oh, and of course everyone would get a copy, as always." She added, almost as an afterthought.

Sachiko blinked away her annoyance and immediately thought about her petite soeur, standing before her. Her small, round face, warming with a soft pink glow. Her shoulders low and tight against her body. Her lips quivering slightly in fear and embarrassment. The smallest hint of tears welling up in her eyes. Her mouth open slightly, as if to whisper "Onee-sama…".

Suddenly, Sachiko could stand it no longer. She stood up faster than she ever remembered standing up before, her chair almost falling to the ground with the action. "We are doing it." She declared, startling everyone. "We will capture Yumi's embarrassed face on camera."

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"-And then Yuuki walked up to the girl and said, 'She's not my girlfriend! She's just my sister! See? We even look alike!' Unfortunately, the girl _still_ ignored him after that. He was so upset!" Yumi laughed brightly as she walked beside Sachiko.

"Oh, my… poor Yuuki-san." Sachiko smiled, her way of laughing politely. "Does that happen often?" Yumi shrugged happily.

"More often than he would admit, actually. We do look similar, so most people readily assume we are siblings. But sometimes people don't notice. And it's at those times he gets flustered." Yumi's eyes widen as her lips twitch up into a smile. "Don't tell him, but I think it's very funny to see that happen."

"I can understand that." Sachiko said, nodding. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the other girls getting into position. Rei, Yoshino, Shimako, Noriko, and even Touko were all ready to begin. The only person she could not see was Tsutako. The young photographer was likely in a position offering her a good vantage point in which to capture Yumi's face. So far, even after a number of successful attempts to capture Yumi's different expressions, the girl had yet to miss even one. She was indeed a professional.

After convinced the plan was ready to start, Sachiko cleared her throat.

"What about you, Yumi?" She asked, turning her head slightly. "Does that ever happen to you?"

"Does what happen, Onee-sama?"

"I mean, does anyone ever get put off when approaching you, thinking that Yuuki is your boyfriend?" Yumi stared at Sachiko, wide-eyes for a long moment, before her face deflated into an unreadable expression.

"Uwah… O-Onee-sama… n-no, that never happens…" She said dejectedly. "I'm not… well… cute enough for people to want to approach me. So… that never happened."

_Now!_

"Yumi-san!" Shimako appeared from the side, Noriko in tow as she approached the Rosa Chinensis sisters.

"Oh! Shimako-san, Noriko-chan. Good afternoon. I'm sorry I didn't come to the Rose Mansion today. I had cleaning duties." Yumi explained, giving a small shrug as if to say 'once in a while…' Shimako shook her head, pushing off the apology.

"Don't worry Yumi-san. We were more than able to finish today's work…" Shimako caught Sachiko's eye, and gave a minute nod. "By the way Yumi-san… has anyone today told you that you look very pretty?" Yumi stiffened in surprise at her friend's statement, her eyes wavered slightly.

"Uh… n-no, Shimako-san… no one said that… today." She said slowly, as if she hadn't heard her friend correctly. She whipped her eyes from Shimako, to Noriko, to Sachiko, and then back to Shimako.

"Well, it's true. You look lovely today." Shimako smiled brightly. "Well, we are off home. Have a nice afternoon Sachiko-sama, Yumi-san." With a small bow, echoed by Noriko, the two girls headed off towards the front gate of school. Yumi and Sachiko stood still for a few moments, until Yumi broke the silence with a nervous laugh.

"Wow… that was a little odd… wasn't it Onee-sama?"

Sachiko eyes her petite soeur, a light smile on her face. "Odd? How so?" Yumi opened her mouth to speak, when another voice interrupted her.

"Ah! Sachiko, Yumi-chan!"

Two sets of eyes turned to see Rei and Yoshino overtaking them on the path away from the figure of Maria-sama. Sachiko caught the knowing look that passed over Rei and Yoshino as they stopped in front of Yumi and Sachiko.

"Gokigenyou, Rei-sama, Yoshino-san." Yumi said with a bow. "I had cleaning duty today, so I'm sorry that I-"

"Wow! Yumi-san! Are those new ribbons? Your hair looks so cute today!" Yoshino gushed, her eyes sparkling with envy.

"Uh…" Yumi stammered, caught off guard yet again. "I… uh…"

"Your uniform, too, Yumi-chan…" Rei observed, a slightly hesitant look on her face. She wasn't particularly used to complimenting the physical appearance of her peers after all. "It is… mmm… very… nice-looking." Sachiko had to keep from sighing at Rei-s attempt to compliment Yumi. She was trying, in her own way at least.

"R-Rei-sama… Yoshino-san…" Yumi said, a light blush creeping across her cheeks. "I… um… thank you… very much…" That was all she could really get out, as flustered as she was.

"Not at all, Yumi-san! Not at all!" Yoshino grinned and winked at the girl. "Well, we are off! Bye bye Sachiko-sama, Stay cute, Yumi-san!" With a final wave, she and Rei passed them in the direction that Shimako and Noriko went a few minutes before.

"Uh…" Yumi voiced beside Sachiko.

"What's wrong, Yumi?" The dark-haired girl asked, her eyes alight with humor.

Before the blushing girl could even stammer out a response, Touko appeared beside her, her hair-drills waving slightly as she stopped.

"Yumi-sama. Sachiko-sama. Gokigenyou." She said simply, casting a gaze towards Sachiko, and sliding back to Yumi. "Are you both heading off towards home?"

"Why, yes, Touko-chan. We are. Are you as well?" The girl nodded, a simple moment of her head, and stepped past the pair, clearly intent on continuing her steady pace.

"I am. I wish you both a nice evening." She said and, after taking a few steps further, she turned her head back towards Yumi, her face impassive. "By, the way, Yumi-sama…" She paused momentarily, as if choosing her words. "You… look very nice." And with that, she walked away.

Sachiko looked down at Yumi beside her. The girl was all but trembling, her face a study in the color red, as her feet were planted firmly on the ground. Sachiko knew that Yumi was never really complimented all that often, at least by that many people in succession, and she was certainly embarrassed. But that wasn't enough. The point of capturing Yumi's expressions was to capture them as pure as possible. Pure happiness. Extreme humor. Total embarrassment. Yumi was almost totally embarrassed, and Sachiko knew all she needed was one more push.

And the girl's grande soeur was just the girl to do it.

"Yumi…" she said softly, stepping in front of her petite soeur. The girls eyes, shifted away from Sachiko, looking at the light grey walkway. "Yumi, look at me…" It took a long moment, but Yumi finally looked up at Sachiko, her chocolate brown eyes glimmering with the tell-tale wetness of tears. "They are correct, all of them."

Yumi's body gave a small shake as her body trembled. The blush in her cheeks spread further back to the edge of her face.

"You don't think you are very attractive. Or desirable. But you must realize that you _are_ cute enough for people to notice. Just look at what your friends say. All of them. They all think you are much cuter than you yourself think. Did you know that?"

Yumi was quiet for a few more seconds, until she finally sucked in a slow breath. "O-Onee-sama… w-what about you? What… what do you think?" Sachiko smiled inwardly. That was the final push. She slowly reached out and grasped her petite soeur's scarf with her hands. Smiling softly, she untied the piece of fabric, and started to re-tie it, just as she always did.

"Yumi… you are a lovely girl. You are much nicer, cuter, and more lovely a person than you think you are. I can never tell you enough how happy I am to be your Onee-sama. Truly."

That was it.

With that final push from Sachiko, Yumi's face colored a deep red. Her lips trembled almost unnoticeably. Her eyes, wet with tears, seemed to shimmer a shade of light, sandy brown. Her hands flew to her mouth in an attempt to cover her embarrassment.

At the same time, Sachiko heard in her mind the 'click' of Tsutako's camera shutter.

Expression captured. Mission accomplished.

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Sachiko entered her room silently, closing her door behind her. She still had an hour before supper, and she would complete her assignments after she ate. That meant that she had about forty-five minutes of free time until she had to prepare for dinner. The thought brought a pleased smile to her features.

Taking a few minutes to change out of her Lillian uniform, she donned a casual, yet presentable choice of clothing (one that would be acceptable for supper), and went to her school bag. It took a couple of days, but after capturing Yumi's newest facial expression, Tsutako had finally been successful in developing the photo she had taken. After rummaging around in her school bag, Sachiko finally pulled out a manila envelope out of the satchel.

Unwinding the string that secured the envelope, she upended it and caught a photograph that slid out into her hand. Tossing the emptied envelop onto her bed, she turned over the photo to see the fruits of the Yamayurikai's labors.

It had indeed been worth it.

The photograph was perfect depiction of Yumi's face, from an off-center angle, starting a few inches from the top of her head (including her ponytails) and ending just below her neck. Her face was a glorious shade of red, amounted from the continued compliments paid to the girl. Her lips, while the picture couldn't show them trembling, were pink and wet, a great contrast to the color of her face. Her hands were held just below her mouth, her thing fingers tented protectively in front of her chin. Finally, her eyes shined brightly with the beginning of tears.

Yumi Fukuzawa's embarrassed face; her complete and total embarrassed face.

It was everything Sachiko could have hoped for.

Smiling happily to herself, she strode over to her vanity chest and, inserting a key into the bottom drawer, opened it. Inside the drawer was an assortment of photographs, all of them depicting Yumi showing different faces and expressions. Happiness, sadness, excitement… All of them were there, in different locations and times. All of them, the Sachiko and Yumi's friends had gotten her to show.

All of them contributed to the beautiful collage of the person that was Yumi Fukuzawa.

Sachiko placed to newest addition to her collection, and taking one final look at the different faces of Yumi, shut the drawer slowly.

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A/N: Hahaha! One thousand is a lot of faces, but each one is unique.

I hope people like this idea, because I think it could be really fun to capture all of Yumi's faces. .

Lemme know what you all think! Again, if the readers like the concept, I'll continue it!

See you on the next face!


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